Trading stamp saver books

ABSTRACT

A trading stamp saver book is characterized by a cover and folded signatures joined by glue. The signatures afford interior pages having spaces for the stamps. The pages are weakened by scores, whereby removal of the cover or a signature visibly mars the book and whereby the pages may be rent along the score lines at the redemption center to so mutilate the book and its contents as to prevent swindle.

United States Patent [191 Bellanca 1 Feb. 27, 1973 TRADING STAMP SAVER BOOKS [75] Inventor: Joseph V. Bellanca, Tallahassee, Fla.

[73] Assignee: McCain Manufacturing Chicago, Ill.

22 Filed: April 1, 1971 21 Appl. No.: 130,408

Corp.,

[52] U.S. Cl. ..283/8, 283/63, 283/56, 281/15 R [51] Int. Cl. ..B42d 15/00 [58] Field of Search ..283/18, 21, 63, 57, 5.7, 58, 283/56, 8, l2-l6, 10; 281/15, 38

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,527,960 2/1925 Teach ..283/63 R X 2,193,534 3/1940 Lounsbury ..28l/2l R Primary Examiner-Lawrence Charles AttorneyKinzer, Dorn & Zickert [57] ABSTRACT A trading stamp saver book is characterized by a cover and folded signatures joined by glue. The signatures afford interior pages having spaces for the stamps. The pages are weakened by scores, whereby removal of the cover or a signature visibly mars the book and whereby the pages may be rent along the score lines at the redemption center to so mutilate the book and its contents as to prevent swindle.

3 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures PATENTED B2 v 3,718 348 INVENTOR JOSEPH V. BELLANCA ATTORNEYS TRADING STAMP SAVER BOOKS This invention relates to the construction of a book in which trading stamps are collected for presentation at a redemption center.

It is perhaps no surprise to realize that redeemed stamp saver books are pilfered at the redemption center and reconstructed for a second redemption as part of an outright swindle. Employees at the redemption centers themselves often participate.

The swindle is made easy by a prevailing construction of the book in which the folded signature or leaves and the cover as well are stapled at the fold or so-called back-bone. The cover may therefor be easily separated by a swindler, a new cover applied and the contents re-presented for a second, fraudulent redemption.

The primary object of the present invention is to construct a stamp saver book which may be easily mutilated purposefully at the redemption center immediately as the redemption transaction is concluded. This objective is realized by joining the signatures one to the other, and the cover as well, by glue applied to the fold or back-bone areas; further, the interior pages are scored to afford lines of weakness whereby the book in its entirety may be rent along the score lines to so mutilate the book and its contents as to prevent swindle.

It is not new to construct such a book to include a cover and signatures glued one to another, but to the best of my knowledge such a construction has never been combined with scored interior pages in accordance with the present invention.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a book constructed in accordance with the present invention; and

FIG. 2 is a detail view showing the glued back-bone of the book.

A stamp saver book constructed in accordance with the present invention is characterized by reference in FIG. 1, including a cover 11 folded along the backbone of the book 12 to present a front cover page and a back cover page. Within the cover are signatures 13, FIG. 2, each folded to present interior pages as 13A and 13B, the signatures being folded along back-bone folds fitted neatly within the fold of the cover.

Of course the book comprises many interior pages presented by folded signatures, as 13, and as shown in FIG. 2, glue G is applied to the area of the back-bone folds whereby the cover and signatures are joined one to the other to hold the book together.

The interior pages are provided with printed lines 15 and 16, FIG. 1, at right angles repeatedly to define square spaces 17 of equal size in repeated rows and columns in which will be pasted or otherwise affixed 5 the saver stamps 18, such being typical of any stamp saver book. When the book is filled, it will be presented at a redemption in exchange for some premium item.

As noted above, the contents of a stamp saver book may be easily pilfered, especially in the instance where the cover and pages are stapled at the back-bone, and for this reason it is a characteristic feature of the present invention that the cover and signatures be joined by glue so that any swindle effort involving removal of the cover may be easily detected. Nonetheless, it is possible that a glued cover could be removed and a new cover be replaced without detection and therefore in accordance with the present invention provision is made for mutilation of the book at the redemption center. To this end, the interior pages are provided with scores 20 along a plurality of lines as 21 and 22.

Preferably the score lines 21 and 22 traverse the spaces 17 where the stamps are to be affixed and consequently the book presented at the redemption center is characterized by scores beneath the stamps 18, making it easy for a person at the redemption center to whom the book 10 is delivered to mutilate the entirety of the book by rending the book along any of the score lines which at the same time necessarily mutilates the stamps 18, all pages being rent at the same time.

The score lines as 21, 22, FIG. 2, extend parallel to the back-bone 12 of the book, but they could as well extend in a direction normal to the back-bone of the book.

I claim:

1. A trading stamp saver book composed of a cover and interior pages presented by signatures folded along a back-bone, the interior pages having repeated spaces of the same size in rows and columns for stamps and being scored along definite lines to weaken the interior pages for purposeful mutilation, and trading stamps afixed to at least some of said spaces, whereby the pages may be rent along the score lines to mutilate the pages containing the stamps.

2. A book according to claim 1 in which the score lines traverse selected spaces for the stamps.

3. A book according to claim 2 in which the cover and signatures are held together by glue applied to the area of the back-bone folds. 

1. A trading stamp saver book composed of a cover and interior pages presented by signatures folded along a back-bone, the interior pages having repeated spaces of the same size in rows and columns for stamps and being scored along definite lines to weaken the interior pages for purposeful mutilation, and trading stamps afixed to at least some of said spaces, whereby the pages may be rent along the score lines to mutilate the pages containing the stamps.
 2. A book according to claim 1 in which the score lines traverse selected spaces for the stamps.
 3. A book according to claim 2 in which the cover and signatures are held together by glue applied to the area of the back-bone folds. 